Get Real, Get Gone

[bpbpbp]

In Rick Page’s book “Get Real, Get Gone”, he says:

“Buy a boat somewhere nice, cheap, with lots of easy sailing - and liveaboard… most passport holders have preferential status somewhere nice and sunny… they might be close to where you live or far away with sympathetic immigration laws… in some countries like Mexico or Malaysia, it is easy to become a resident (we did)”.

He goes on to say he did this in Australia too. I don’t know what passports Rick holds or if he achieved this through financial means or business visa or other, but he suggests he had a limited budget at the time.

This was all before Brexit.

Today, I can spend 90 days in 180 in EU but I’ll not be allowed to work and will have to move on.

With Mexico and Malaysia or other countries outside EU, I can’t find information to support these claims.

Does anyone have direct recent experience of countries where I could do such a thing - liveaboard and work legally for a year at a time? I have UK and Canadian passports.

 

[V1701]

What sort of work do you have in mind? There are digital nomad visas in some (all?) EU countries, I think the requirements vary by country. But yes you can no longer bum about in the Med as easily, people use Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco as get arounds. Your age can also be a factor, Australia used to have (I think it was) an under 35's work visa, dunno if that still exists...

 

[bpbpbp]

What sort of work do you have in mind? There are digital nomad visas in some (all?) EU countries, I think the requirements vary by country. But yes you can no longer bum about in the Med as easily, people use Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco as get arounds. Your age can also be a factor, Australia used to have (I think it was) an under 35's work visa, dunno if that still exists...

Ah yes, the Australian young persons work visa. I did that in my 20s. I’m 44 now, no such luck.

Good point again, the digital nomad visa. I have a remote UK job which, whilst satisfying visa requirements, would be breaking my contract and I don’t want to mess my employer around or get them in hot water.

If I were to attempt something like this I would look for a fully remote job, ideally part time. Trying to find casual work would be challenging I expect.

I get inspired by books like this from time to time, but always come back to needing a big money buffer or unique work situation and flexibility.

 

[Koeketiene]

Malta (EU/Schengen country) do a digital nomad visa.
Can be extended up to 4 years.

Nomad Residence Permit

 

[bpbpbp]

Awesome thanks!

 

[Star-Lord]

Mexico, Sea of Cortez, is apparently the place to be in that part of the world. 6 month visas renewable by a quick trip out then back. Malta - just become a resident? Everyone’s doing it! Really easy - much to the chagrin of Maltese! But the marinas in Malta are very expensive like the south coast of UK. Anchoring is sort of Okay but tiresome and Malta gets Big winds. Possible to anchor year round in Siracusa (Sicily) but you need to move spots every week or your chain gets too much growth on it! Fisherman’s hard antifouling in the Italy and get a diver to scrape twice a year saves a fortune. Bizerte in N. Tunisia is only 12 hours from Sardinia. A bit of a culture shock but after la dolce vita. Isn’t Portugal opening up again for longer stays? Easier to work in a marina - I know one couple who fly to Morocco every 90 days and rent and keep the boat in France. This winter they stayed 180 days in Morocco doing a visa run to Ceuta (Spain in Morocco). If it wasn’t for Orcas summer at anchor in the Algarve and winter in Tunis would be the ticket.

 

[capnsensible]

Our friends moved aboard their Lagoon catamaran in January. We took the boat from mainland Spain to Lanzarote where they intend to base themselves for a year or two. After a bit of back and forth, one now has his digital nomad visa and due to a tiny paperwork error, his partners is slightly delayed but she should be OK this week.

 

[bpbpbp]

Mexico, Sea of Cortez, is apparently the place to be in that part of the world. 6 month visas renewable by a quick trip out then back. Malta - just become a resident? Everyone’s doing it! Really easy - much to the chagrin of Maltese! But the marinas in Malta are very expensive like the south coast of UK. Anchoring is sort of Okay but tiresome and Malta gets Big winds. Possible to anchor year round in Siracusa (Sicily) but you need to move spots every week or your chain gets too much growth on it! Fisherman’s hard antifouling in the Italy and get a diver to scrape twice a year saves a fortune. Bizerte in N. Tunisia is only 12 hours from Sardinia. A bit of a culture shock but after la dolce vita. Isn’t Portugal opening up again for longer stays? Easier to work in a marina - I know one couple who fly to Morocco every 90 days and rent and keep the boat in France. This winter they stayed 180 days in Morocco doing a visa run to Ceuta (Spain in Morocco). If it wasn’t for Orcas summer at anchor in the Algarve and winter in Tunis would be the ticket.

Wow loads of info and ideas there, thank you!

I regularly read of folks taking a year off to sail around Thailand and Malaysia too so perhaps they are accommodating towards 6 month tourist visas.

 

[bpbpbp]

Our friends moved aboard their Lagoon catamaran in January. We took the boat from mainland Spain to Lanzarote where they intend to base themselves for a year or two. After a bit of back and forth, one now has his digital nomad visa and due to a tiny paperwork error, his partners is slightly delayed but she should be OK this week.

Nice, thanks

My issue is that I have a "UK Remote" contract with my UK home address stated as my place of work.

I think I will need to get a new fully remote contract when I'm in a position to set off.

I also want to avoid marina fees as much as possible, so will need to look into the best countries for anchorages.

 

[Minerva]

Nice, thanks

My issue is that I have a "UK Remote" contract with my UK home address stated as my place of work.

I think I will need to get a new fully remote contract when I'm in a position to set off.

I also want to avoid marina fees as much as possible, so will need to look into the best countries for anchorages.

You might have the work out the tax situation; AIUI if your company is in UK and you’re working in Portugal, then your company has to pay Portuguese tax.

If your PAYE that may prove troublesome. If you chance it and are caught I think you’d be having a jolly bad time indeed.

If you’re self employed/contracting then probably manageable but would need to check IR35 situation.

But the digital nomad visa situation is probably the way forward

 

[servus]

Hello there,
I have a EU-passport and boat registration. Therefore I did not enquire about Poland's leisure boat registration laws. I just heard, that it seems to be easy and cheap. Might be worth investigating.

Cheers, G.

 

[bpbpbp]

Ok thanks G!